How long do I have to do the fingerprints after approval?

One month from the favourable decision, and you must attend in person. The step is handled by the Documentation Unit of the National Police, exactly like any other TIE.

Can I use the provisional work authorisation to do the fingerprints?

No. The fingerprint appointment requires the final decision. The provisional authorisation lets you work and register with Social Security, but not apply for the card.

Is there a special appointment system for the regularisation?

None was created. The appointment is booked on the same ICP portal, under the same fingerprint trámite as every other file, now competing with more than a million applications in progress.

Has the one-month deadline been extended because of the backlog?

Not officially. What exists is the practice of evidencing that no appointment was available: dated screenshots of failed attempts. That is not a formal extension, it is a way of justifying the delay.

Until when can missing documents be submitted?

The correction window at Correos offices is open until 30 September 2026. The deadline for new applications closed on 30 June and has not been extended.

Spain's 2026 regularisation: what happens after approval and how to get the fingerprint appointment

Updated: 2026-09-10

The extraordinary process under Royal Decree 316/2026 received 1,174,978 applications. Anyone who receives a favourable decision has one month to apply for the TIE in person, and that requires a fingerprint appointment in the same overloaded system as everyone else. The wave of decisions arrives this autumn.

What process this is

Royal Decree 316/2026, published in the BOE on 15 April 2026, opened an extraordinary regularisation process. Applications were submitted between 16 April and 30 June 2026 — online from the 16th and in person from the 20th — and the deadline was not extended.

According to the government's own figures published on 2 July, 1,174,978 applications were filed: 79.6% under arraigo and exceptional circumstances, 20.4% from international protection applicants. 83.2% were submitted online, the rest in person across 448 offices.

The authorisation granted lasts one year, with the right to work anywhere in Spain and in any sector.

What is still open: corrections until 30 September

If you were asked to supply missing documents, that window is still alive: corrections are accepted at Correos offices until 30 September 2026, at 383 designated branches. It is the only part of the process still open — new applications are no longer accepted.

What happens when the favourable decision arrives

This is where many people are caught out: the decision is not the card.

With a final favourable decision you have one month to apply for the TIE, in person, at the Documentation Unit of the National Police. That in-person step is the fingerprint appointment: they take your fingerprints and signature, and the physical card is produced from them and collected later.

Two details that save a wasted trip:

The provisional work authorisation is not enough for fingerprints. It lets you work and register with Social Security, but the card is applied for with the final decision.
There is no dedicated appointment channel for this process. You book on the same ICP portal, under the same fingerprint trámite as everybody else.

The document list is set out in the fingerprint appointment guide: in short, form EX-17, proof of the 790/012 fee, your passport, a photo and — although it appears on no official list — the printed decision and a recent empadronamiento certificate.

Why the appointment will be the problem

The legal time limit for deciding a file is three months. With applications filed between April and June and corrections open until the end of September, most final decisions land in autumn 2026.

Every person with a favourable decision then needs a fingerprint appointment, in their own province, within a month. All of them compete for the same slots that were already scarce before the process began, and against every other trámite sharing that calendar: renewals, first cards, card collections.

Put plainly: the bottleneck of the regularisation is not the decision, it is the appointment.

What to do if you cannot find a slot

Document every attempt. Screenshots with the date visible showing the «no hay citas disponibles» message. That is what allows you to show the delay was not your doing. Officially the one-month deadline has not been extended because of the backlog; what exists is this practice of justifying the impossibility.
Check you are looking at the right trámite. The process created no new ones: you are looking for the ordinary fingerprint appointment, whose exact name differs from province to province.
Do not buy an appointment. With over a million files in progress, resale is at its peak. An appointment booked in somebody else's name can be cancelled at the office itself, and the National Police has dismantled several groups doing this.
Watch for slots automatically. They appear with no fixed schedule and last minutes; why that happens is explained in no appointments available.

Dates worth keeping in mind

30 June 2026 — application deadline closed. Not extended.
30 September 2026 — last day to submit missing documents at Correos.
One month from your final decision — deadline to apply for the TIE in person.
Autumn 2026 — when the bulk of decisions is expected, and with them the heaviest pressure on fingerprint appointments.